Amendment 1 – Ramblings of a Sane but Angry Mind
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
We all know this. The 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Must have seemed pretty important to the founding fathers to have put it at the top of the list. We’ve quoted it, we’ve argued about it, and more importantly, WE’VE EXERCISED THIS RIGHT, EVERY SINGLE DAY!
As I opened my FB feed this morning, I saw that the Screaming Orange Manchild was at it again. Thanks to Twitter, we’ll never have to guess what he’s thinking! Today, it was a rant about burning the flag and possibly making this a criminal offense. MMMM, glad the Supreme Court has already addressed that issue. Guess which Amendment protects this…. yep, #1. Last week, the SOM met with some of the major media leaders in the country. What did he have to say? In a nutshell, he doesn’t like them. He doesn’t want them publishing unflattering things about him. Or his wife. Or his flock of children. Oh, and that picture with the double chin has got to go! (Because that is by far the worst picture anyone has seen of him! Seriously?) I don’t know if he actually said the words, but what he wants is to control the media. Period. In his perfect world, there would be no dissenting opinions about anything. Wonder how that’s going to work out with all the Democrats in the House and Senate.
Let’s get smaller and closer to home with what this means. We’ve all made jokes about the NSA and laughingly wondered if they are listening to our phone calls and reading our email. Most of us probably don’t really have anything to worry about as things are now. Hell, the NSA can’t even find the REAL terrorists BEFORE they shoot up nightclubs and shopping malls and churches, I’m pretty sure most of us are pretty low on the totem pole.
But let’s wander into the possible future if the SOM has his way. Make a list in your head of words that you say in phone conversations or type on social media or text to your friends. Words that the SOM will find offensive. I’ll help you out….. tRump, pEnce, #NotMyPresident, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, abortion, LGBTQ, equal rights, protests, orange, screaming, idiot, Democrat, liberal, Black Lives Matter, gun control, Nazi, White Supremacy, Melania, Barron, Ivanka, Russia, China, bad hair, double chin, Make America Great Again, unemployment, Obamacare, Medicare, taxes, locker room talk…… I could keep on but I think you get where I’m going.
I’ve been writing political opinion pieces since I was 13 years old. Never once have I EVER given it a second thought as to if I was going to get in trouble for what I wrote. (My worst fear has always been if I misspelled a word!) Am I concerned about losing my rights to express how I feel without censorship? You’re damned right I am! Will I fight to keep this right? You’re damned right I will! Should we ALL be worried about this? You’re damned right we should be!
Obviously all the Amendments are equally important but I feel that none affects us more on a daily basis than the one that the Founding Fathers put at the top. Could I live day to day without some of the protections afforded in the other 26 Amendments? I don’t want to but I could. Will I ever let the freedoms I enjoy from the 1st Amendment go? NOT WITHOUT ONE HELL OF A FIGHT!
